The present invention relates to a packing element with a connecting piece, having locking elements, for fixing the packing element in relation to a wall bushing, to be covered by them, of a space for holding a base for fixing a plug.
Packing elements of this kind are known and are used in Mercedes-Benz motor vehicles of Type W 124 (200 D-500 E series) in order to sheath an end piece of a cable harness, which is already provided with a plug, for the purpose of protecting this end piece. The end piece is led out of an already premounted and precabled door of a passenger vehicle and, by means of its plug, is connected to a plug-in connector which is seated inside a pillar of a vehicle body holding the door and forms the base.
Usually, the bellows-like packing element is first plugged onto the end piece of the cable harness which bears the plug and is secured with its one end to a wall bushing of the door by clipping. Subsequently, the plug is plugged through the wall bushing of the vehicle body pillar, plugged into the plug-in connector integrated in this pillar and secured in the connector.
Finally, the packing element is to be secured with its free end by means of the locking elements provided on its connecting piece, by clipping into the wall bushing of the vehicle body pillar.
The connection of the cable harness to the plug-in connector thus requires on the side of the vehicle body pillar two separate operations, which is correspondingly troublesome and time-consuming. The subsequent clipping in of the packing element into the opening of the vehicle body pillar which is to be carried out after the plugging in of the plug into the plug-in connector needs to be handled carefully since incomplete clipping in can lead to leaking. The clipping in of the packing element is more troublesome than clipping it into the wall bushing of the door because the wall bushing is then already attached to the vehicle body pillar and therefore less free space is available for handling the packing element.
An object of the present invention is to provide a packing element which can be mounted on the pillar side in a substantially simpler and more advantageous manner.
This object is achieved according to the invention by a packing element with a connecting piece, having locking elements, for fixing the packing element in relation to a wall bushing, to be covered by it, of a space for holding a base for fixing a plug. The connecting piece constitutes a coupling piece, which is connected to the plug and whose locking elements can be spread apart, engaging behind the wall bushing, over deflection faces assigned to the plug and, spread apart by the deflection faces, can be overrun during the further insertion of the plug.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention allows the end piece of the cable harness which bears the plug and hangs out of the door to be mounted, together with the end of the packing element which is to be secured on the pillar side, on the vehicle body pillar in a single operation.
The present invention permits the plug to be connected, even before the attachment of the door to the vehicle body pillar, to the coupling piece at the free end of the packing element which is already secured to the door.
After the mounting of the door on the vehicle body pillar, the constructional unit formed from the plug and coupling piece of the packing element is then inserted into the pillar-side wall bushing.
When the plug and plug-in connector are brought into engagement with one another, deflection faces provided on the plug side in certain embodiments spread apart of the locking elements of the packing element coupling piece which engage behind the wall bushing of the vehicle body pillar. With the locking elements in the spread-apart state, the plug is then pushed into its final plug-in position relative to the coupling piece. The locking elements are overrun by the plug-side deflection faces, and a relative movement occurs between the plug and packing element coupling piece secured in the wall bushing.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.